Skip to main content
. 2009 Dec 23;8:60. doi: 10.1186/1476-069X-8-60

Table 1.

Summary of the overall epidemiologic evidence on municipal solid waste disposal: landfills and incinerators.

HEALTH EFFECT LEVEL OF EVIDENCE
LANDFILLS INCINERATORS
All cancer Inadequate Limited
 Stomach cancer Inadequate Limited
 Colorectal cancer Inadequate Limited
 Liver cancer Inadequate Limited
 Larynx cancer Inadequate Inadequate
 Lung cancer Inadequate Limited
 Soft tissue sarcoma Inadequate Limited
 Kidney cancer Inadequate Inadequate
 Bladder cancer Inadequate Inadequate
 Non Hodgkin's lymphoma Inadequate Limited
 Childhood cancer Inadequate Inadequate
Total birth defects Limited Inadequate
 Neural tube defects Limited Inadequate
 Orofacial birth defects Inadequate Limited
 Genitourinary birth defects Limited* Limited**
 Abdominal wall defects Inadequate Inadequate
 Gastrointestinal birth defects§ Inadequate Inadequate
Low birth weight Limited Inadequate
Respiratory diseases or symptoms Inadequate Inadequate

"Inadequate": available studies are of insufficient quality, consistency, or statistical power to decide the presence or absence of a causal association. "Limited": a positive association has been observed between exposure and disease for which a causal interpretation is considered to be credible, but chance, bias, or confounding could not be ruled out with reasonable confidence.

* Hypospadias and epispadias

** Renal dysplasia

§ The original estimates were given for "surgical corrections of gastroschisis and exomphalos"